Wrigleyville residents have few gripes about Pearl Jam concert

Wrigleyville residents say they have few gripes about last night's Pearl Jam concert, despite a 2½-hour rain delay that pushed the show into early morning hours.

William Wilson, a 25-year-old student, said he enjoyed hearing the rock band from his porch on Sheffield Avenue and invited friends over to take advantage of the prime location.

"It was wild how the storm came in like that," he said. "We fully embraced it."

Ald. Tom Tunney said he received general complaints about the concert's ending time, which exceeded Wrigley Field’s curfew by at least two hours.

"It's 1:30 in the morning, and why is the concert on?" the 44th Ward alderman said some residents asked him.

Beth Murphy, the vice chair of East Lake View Neighbors, said she has not heard any complaints about the late concert but also has not talked to her neighbors about it yet.

"Obviously the circumstances were different and challenging last night," she said in an email.

Cubs spokesman Julian Green said the team opted to lift the curfew and delay the show instead of postponing it for a later date.

"Rather than release 40,000 frustrated fans into the neighborhood, we made the decision to go for it,"he said. "We believed that was the best decision."

Before reaching that conclusion, the Cubs consulted the Lake View Citizens' Council, said its president, Will DeMille.

The neighborhood group agreed that pushing back the concert until the inclement weather cleared was preferable to rescheduling it.

Some residents rolled their eyes at the idea of any party going too late in their bustling neighborhood.

"That's why we live here," said Melissa Mansfield, a 47-year-old saleswoman. "Yeah, it's a pain in the ass, but that's why we moved here."

Mansfield and other neighbors described the concert's crowds as no worse than the Cubs' typical revelers.

Mansfield said she even found the show quieter than a Tuesday afternoon ball game.

When Mitchell Davis, 26, arrived Thursday night at his friend's house on Sheffield Avenue to stay the weekend and attend the concert, he said he could already hear the sound check blasting from the ballpark across the street. But in and outside Wrigley, he had no complaints about the late performance.

"The authorities did their job," he said. "It was pretty under control."

Chicago police did not receive any notifications of an abnormal amount of complaints coming from the area surrounding Wrigley Field, said Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada.

Tunney said he is waiting to hear from city officials about any public safety issues stemming from the late show. He said it's too early to tell whether it will affect his negotiations with the city over a $500 million proposal to revamp the aging baseball stadium and surrounding neighborhood, adding he's "working day and night" to perfect the plan.

The proposal was approved Thursday by the city's Plan Commission. City Council voted last month to allow more night games at Wrigley as part of the Cubs' plan.